Mad Men, Rad Women: Who Won the Battle of the Sexes?

Camelot. The Pill. Women’s Lib. The Sexual Revolution. In the 1960s and 1970s, the boomer generation brought a different sensibility to love, lust, relationships and marriage. Today’s hit TV shows are putting it in perspective for us who weren’t there.

Or are they?

These two television programs, the Emmy award winning, Mad Men and Swingtown, seem to have caught the retro zeitgeist, and the imaginations of viewers.

Mad Men…

During the Kennedy Era, New York’s advertising mecca, Madison Avenue, may have looked energized sophisticated, but men’s attitudes toward women, both in the office and at home, bordered on the barbaric. This show captures both the agony and the ecstasy of their lives. Take for example:

Don Draper (Sterling Cooper creative director)

It is on Don’s broad shoulders that the show is carried, for good reason: tall, dark, handsome and mysterious, Don aspires to be the über Man in the Gray Flannel Suit, but his fair sense of play in regard to his clients and the women in his life (housewife Betty, underling Peggy, beatnik mistress Midge, and mistress/client, Rachel), keeps getting in the way.

How He’s Down with Love: Throughout the first season, he thought nothing of having affairs with women who attracted him, physically, mentally, and emotionally-as opposed to his former model wife, Betty, who is as pretty as a picture…and just as bland. But in that season’s final episode, he realized that the Cheeverish/Cleaveresque life he’d built with Betty deserved his full attention, even at the expense of true passion.

Retro, Rat Pack or Radical? Totally rad. (Why else do we watch?) He’s already wised up to the fact that fitting in with the Mad Ave’s buttoned down boy’s club is an emotional dead end. We’ll love it when he can just be himself, with the right woman. And it will pay off in next big wave in advertising: counterculture consumerism. In the battle of the sexes, he’s a winner.

Roger Sterling

The ad agency’s head of account services loves thick steaks, dry martinis and curvy women who aren’t his wife.

How He’s Down with Love: His ideal office break used to be a little behind-closed-office-doors over-the-desk slap-and-tickle with Sterling Cooper office manager, Joan-until he was sidelined with a couple of heart attacks. Now he’ll never leave his devoted (and tuned in) wife or jaded teen daughter, not even for Joan’s cush tush.

Retro, Rat Pack, or Radical? Definitely Rat Pack. He’ll always look and touch-that is, as long as women will allow him to do so. Then again, when the psychedelic ’60s hit, he’ll go from Camelot Casanova to dinosaur in a nanosecond. In the battle of the sexes, he’s a loser.

Pete Campbell

A blue-blooded preppy, Pete is one of Sterling Cooper’s young turks-and a consummate conniver who will step on anyone to get ahead.

How He’s Down with Love: In his circles, marrying your college sweetheart (in his case, Trudy) is de rigeur-despite his inability (and lack of desire) to understand her needs. Hey, isn’t their Park Avenue apartment enough proof of his virility?

And while he’d like to think of himself as the office lothario, his one and only conquest-Peggy, Don’s virginal former secretary-was a two-night stand that broke her hymen as well as her heart, and got her pregnant.

Retro, Rat Pack, or Radical? Retro. His kind of behavior is is a caveman throwback, one he’ll never grow from. That his wife will eventually leave him is a given. Whether he’ll ever meet his son is doubtful. Even the sudden death of his father leaves him cold. He’s doomed himself to a loveless life in a changing world. In the battle of the sexes, he’s a winner

…and Their Mad Women

Betty Draper

This  former model’s self-imposed prison is her ivy-covered doll house in the ‘burbs. Last year she was Bambi in headlights when it came to communicating with her hubby, or reading his moods. This season she’s turned into an uptight wife and a passive-aggressive mommy dearest. Maybe her shrink’s tattletale stance with Don has jaded her toward men…

How She’s Down with Love: …Or maybe her newfound edginess has something to do with having sniffed another woman’s perfume on Don’s ring-around-the-collar. In any event, this season Betty has turned brittle-and is flirting with disastrous men.

Retro, Rat Pack, or Radical?  Retro all the way. In a couple of decade’s she’ll be the grandmother you live to avoid: you know, the chain-smoking bitter divorcee, who lives for her three-martini lunch with the girls-and picks apart the Next Generation (and the one after that) for living their lives with the guts she wishes she’d had. In the battle of the sexes, she’s a loser.

Peggy Olson

A virginal hick from the sticks, Peggy learned the hard way what an office romance can cost her-and has the kid to prove it. Her only consolation is her new job as Sterling Cooper’s first female copywriter. While it’s her badge of courage, it won’t warm her cockles on cold nights.

How She’s Down with Love: She’ll flirt-but now backs off when it comes to putting out. It’s her penance for passing off her baby as her married sister’s kid.

Retro, Rat Pack, or Radical? Radical. She’s not older, just wiser-and yes, bitter about love. But her character grows in every episode, personally as well as professionally. Eventually she’ll take another chance on a man. As for birth control, soon her whole generation will embrace the mantra: “Where there’s the Pill, there’s a lay…” In the battle of the sexes, she’s a winner.

Joan Holloway

Sterling Cooper’s office manager is also its queen bee. Men salivate over her sultry attitude (not to mention her bodacious bod). The other women at work fear her, but don’t respect her. That comes with the territory, not with the title.

How She’s Down with Love: She knows he’ll never leave his wife for her, and that’s okay. The role of mistress is one she doesn’t mind. Why be the cow when you can be the cream?  Besides, if the heel was on the other foot, she’d miss the sex…

Retro, Rat Pack, or Radical? Rat Pack. She sees her office liaisons as petite amusements, and she only does them on her terms. (In other words, Paul Kinsey, it ain’t happening…again.) She can be had, but she can’t be bought. In the battle of the sexes, she’s a winner.

Swingtown…

In this mid-’70s Chi-town ‘burb, the attitude  is anything but flyover. More like “sleep over.” Both the men and women of Swingtown are fully aware of the games people play-with each others’ spouses. The question they face every week is whether or not swinging enhances their mutual passion, or drives a wedge between them.

The Rad Women…

Susan Miller

The heart and soul of the show, the era’s sexual (and political) revolution is viewed through actress Molly Parker’s (Deadwood) bright, wide eyes. But her twenty-year marriage to the one and only lover she’s ever had now has her wondering “What if…”

A first-time four-way-with her husband, Bruce, and their new neighbors, the Deckers-left her with no regrets-and a lot of mixed emotions. She never doubts her love for Bruce, but she does question her feelings for a man who seems to know her better: best friend Janet’s husband, Roger. Then again, isn’t unrequited love the best love of all?

Romantic, Radical, or Just Dazed and Confused? A romantic. She’ll never leave her husband, but she’ll always have a soft spot for Roger. Now, can she honor their pact to each other for honesty, and admit her feelings about Roger to Bruce? In the battle of the sexes, she’s a winner.

Trina Decker

She’s a party girl on the surface, but still water runs deep here. The games are fun, but she longs for the mutual respect and honest passion she sees being shared between her new monogamous friends.

Romantic, Radical, or Just Dazed and Confused? Romantic. For her, swinging is been there, done that. Monogamy is the bigger challenge. But can she handle the truth, if hubby Tom can’t stay on the wagon with her? In the battle of the sexes, she’s a winner.

Janet Thompson

Here best friend Susan may have moved away, but Janet will be damned if she lets anyone else usurp her place in Susan’s heart. Seriously, is this some kind of girl crush, or a bit of neighborly competition?

Romantic, Radical, or Just Dazed and Confused? She’s dazed and confused. Pot and porno and Twister-oh my! Keeping up with the  Millers allows Janet to let down her hair, both literally and figuratively. Yes, we’re happy about this. It’s better than watching her play housfrau dominatrix and scrub her kitchen raw. (Ouch!) In the battle of the sexes, she’s a loser-if she doesn’t get her priorities straight.

And Their Not-So-Radical Guys

Bruce Miller

He never thought wife Susan would agree to their new neighbors’ invitation to come in and play.With his newfound freedom, he’s like a kid in a candy shop-until his jealousy over Susan sets in. Or he gets caught by his teen daughter, playing pattycake with another woman.

Romantic, Radical, or Just Dazed and Confused? He’s so dazed and confused! Warp speed into the 1980s: He’ll be the biggest prude of all. In the battle of the sexes, he’s a loser.

Roger Thompson

He’s henpecked and pussywhipped by Janet. And he’s got a crush on her best friend, Susan. Swinging-with Janet’s consent-would be a dream come true…

Romantic, Radical, or Just Dazed and Confused? He’s a romantic. Sure, he lusts in his heart for Susan. But he’ll always be true blue to Janet. And Susan wouldn’t have it any other way. In the battle of the sexes, he’s a winner.

Tom Decker

This horn dog is the archetype of the Coffee-Tea-and-Me, Come Fly with Me airline pilot. His easygoing charm (not to mention Magnum P.I. ’stache) is the turn-on here… (Hey, it’s network! If it was running on Showtime, I’m sure I’d be crowing about something else…)

Romantic, Radical, or Just Dazed and Confused? Radical. Yes, he loves his wife-but he loves partying just as much. Here’s hoping he’s not dumb enough to lose her, before the party is over for him. In the battle of the sexes, he’s a loser-if he doesn’t get his priorities straight.

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